External usb Hard drive

[tim west]

Thought about buying one for files but firstly to hold an image file of my laptops HD for backup purposes, my laptop is an Acer which comes with recovery software(not that good I gather from researching the net)
My question though is, what use is a backed up image file if the laptop crashes and doesnt boot up anymore? How would one re-image the HD?

The Acer recovery forces you to make two backup DVD's but the process isnt reliable or just doesnt work when needed so what method of booting up could be used in order to read an image file saved on an external usb HD considering that the laptop may not recognise a usb device in its condition? would it be possible to have all necessary drivers on a DVD in order for the laptop to be able to take the image file from the ext HD?

Of course this question applies to PC's with pre-built in OS's that came wthout windows disks.

 

[wanleg]

Could try this product combined with this method of accessing the image file on the USB hard disk.

You can build the bootable floppy to see if you can access your USB hard disk before you buy ghost.

 

[tim west]

Thanks wanleg, very informative and interesting, will definitely look at getting an ext HD now.